a2 media evaluation question 1

Media Evaluation

Media Evaluation

By Bobby Salt

Introduction

For my Advanced Media Portfolio project in A2 Media, my group and I decided to produce a music video constructed around a track of our choice. As well as this we had to produce 2 ancillary products which were: a band website and a CD cover, back, spine and booklet. We had previously attempted a much briefer yet similar task of recording some lip syncing practise towards the end of the AS year and received remarkably positive feedback. We therefore decided to choose a song from around the same era and with the same positive vibe as September by Earth, Wind & Fire. We believed the combination of the songs production era and a modern day parody aspect would form a wide target audience spectrum where anyone aged 15-60 would at least enjoy it. The following slides will be analysing my A2 music video and linking it to evaluation question 1.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The Editing Process

The majority of our editing, whether its the cuts, filters, pace, effects or any other aspect, tend to go hand-in-hand with the conventional way of editing a music video due to its simplicity. Whilst a more modern song would of allowed us to use more bright, modern, even futuristic edits and effects, my group and I kept our techniques and style on a simplistic basis due to our single choice being released in 1972. Had we chose a song from 2015/16 I can guarantee the ways in which we constructed and adjusted our piece would have been entirely different. For example when recording we used a high quality camera (Nikon D3300 DSLR) and we could have used our equipment to our advantage and set out to get some really technical, yet aesthetically stunning shots with the focus pull or zoom lens. But instead, due to our singles production era and the need/want to get a similar vibe and visual effect, we refrained from taking any complex shots as that would not have happened during the 1970s, mainly due to the technology at that time not being as advanced.

In terms of filters we adjusted the saturation and colour scheme of the shots, in particular the band shots as they were especially bright and colourful to begin with, in order to get that more old fashioned, grainy aspect to our piece. This choice of filtering is conventional in the sense that its what other music videos of our genre (folk rock) would do in order to suit its music and audience but unconventional in the sense that, in the modern day of age, filters tend to aim to enhance the quality, brightness and colour of the shot, whereas ours does the complete opposite.

The Editing Process

The aspect of bright lighting, despite the attempts to tone it down could be an example of Rick Altmans Theory of genre and how theres no such thing as a pure genre. We definitely borrow aspects of different genres like Altman states, within our colourful lighting and sunlight scenes which tend to be more of a pop feature. This borrowing reflects the Hybridisation that Altman also mentions and how different conventions of different genres now interlink with one another.

When it came to cutting down our product and making a decision on how frequent cuts would be put in place, it was debatable as to whether or not we make the frequency of our cuts a modern or classic aspect of the music video. Whilst both Reservoir Dogs and Stealers Wheel dont use that many cuts or a considerably fast pace, the whole idea behind our piece was to put a modern spin on a classic recording. For that reason we decided to interject a fast pace and frequent cuts and to also maintain the attention and enjoyment of the audience. This feature was complimented in our audience feedback so we feel we made the right decision.

The Album Cover

The album cover for The Bike Locks Stuck In The Middle With You follows all the conventions and forms as professional, real, existing covers. Now although its not a photo, the cover is one large shot of the band with the band title (The Bike Locks) and the single title (Stuck In The Middle With You) written in large text. Potentially arguable unconventional aspects of the cover is the lack of real life graphology. Whilst the structure and layout of the album follows the typical conventions, the more specific details such as the edited artwork twist on what would have been a real life shot of the band stood in the same positions act as an alternative and not so conventional viewpoint. The entire inspiration for the album cover stems from Stealers Wheel album cover that was designed based around the Reservoir Dogs film poster/cover and thats how the entire product and ancillaries were produced, with the interlinking of both the track itself and the film the track is played in and renowned for. Visual comparisons are easily made when placing each cover side by side. In order to fully grasp the design and layout of the album cover we wanted to replicate and put our own twist on we looked no further than Reservoir Dogs and Stealers Wheel when designing the front cover. As our cover shows a lot about our band, this follows the conventions of album covers. However it is once again arguable as no facial features are presented which results in the artists identity not being fully shown, something that doesnt typically occur.

The Album Back Cover

The back follows some conventions as it does have the typical track listings in a chronological order as well as the production company name; however that particular aspect isnt displayed in the conventional manner as its hidden, yet really obvious through the positioning on the registration plate of the Mini Cooper. Other detail such as barcodes, titles, logos, copyright claims or anything else of a similar concept are also evident therefore following the typical conventions of a CD back cover. However these details were purposely made quite small and light and this was an intentional decision by the group as we felt it drew the audiences attention more to the artistic side of the cover. This hand drawn aspect was a key feature in attempting to make our ancillaries more unique and distinguishable against other projects.

The Website

The website we created for The Bike Locks followed all the forms and conventions of real, professional music based websites. It was designed and structured in a way we feel Stealers Wheel would have done so if they were a band in the present day. The template, added details and design adjustments were made whilst taking into account the genre of the single and the mise-en-scene of the group. Before we began creating and editing the website we did some research into other, current band websites, both of a similar genre to our track and those on the complete opposite end of the scale; mainly to see if there were any features that were specifically put up for the fans of a certain genre. What we did recognise was that the websites features were mainly fan demanded; so if there was a key element such as tour dates or a link to ticket sales missing, the fans would pick up on that, mention it via email or through some form of a fan forum and the site managers would create/include whatever was missing or in demand.

We made all the appropriate and typical pages that music based websites have. Pages such as: home, band bio, gallery, tour dates and locations, listen in, watch, win and merchandise. All pages to allow fans or new comers full access to whatever it is they want. Its very conventional of band websites to also allow a more involved and personal experience for their fans, so features such as social media links to both the band and the individual band members were hyperlinked for easy access on all platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Each site whether it was a social media, a music, a merchandise or an advertisement platform, linked to all the other sites, allowing easy movement and guidance between the official sites of the band, a feature thats also included in real music websites. Every page of every site was designed with the same colour scheme of a mainly toned down black and white shade in order to get a sense of regularity and continuity in the product. In addition navigation points, logos and information was available throughout. All these features are present in professional band websites so we felt the definite need to incorporate them into our sites.

The Website

The only arguable and opposing aspect of conventions within our website is the format of the site itself. We used Wix, a flash site generator. Whilst researching through real band and music based websites we never found one site produced by Wix or any flash site generator for that matter. This could mainly be due to the band or music company hiring skilled website constructors who dont need pre-set templates but thats obviously money, a skill and a trade in which we didnt have any experience or possession of, so templates were needed to just help us begin the sites production.

Based off of our research into other professional music websites it did become apparent that the majority, if not all of the bands and artists didnt have artwork of themselves and instead just had photographs. This reveals their identity in a more realistic and correct way as artwork can sometimes tend to emphasise certain features and not look identical to the actual person. For example if a new fan of The Bike Locks was to have only seen the artwork of us below, I highly doubt they would be able to recognise us in person. Similarly our logo is rather unconventional as the name of the band doesnt appear to be the focus of the picture. Big enough bands such as Bring Me The Horizon have logos without their name as their known well enough on a global scale to have that logo recognisable. Whereas a small, upcoming band like The Bike Locks would tend to have their name as the key element.

The Video

When linking our final product to theorists such as Laura Mulvey and Andrew Goodwin it becomes apparent that a different points within our video contradict and coincide with different aspects of each theory. For example Laura Mulvey talks about Male Gaze and how the audience can be put into this viewpoint or perspective of a male character. Before watching our piece but after realising it consists of 4 male characters you might expect this theory to come into play as it would have been an easily interjected viewpoint from a camera and a narratives point of view. But theres no inclusion of a female at all throughout the film, removing any potential of a male perspective in order to gain visual pleasure. The reversed theory of female gaze could potentially be coincided by the music video as the camera is regularly hand held and could be seen as being a female POV as its attention/focus is consistently on the male characters. Whether or not it has any relevance or potential to be for pleasure is debatable as theres only band performance shots, behind the scenes and parody references throughout the piece. This handheld aspect of the video is a frequently used concept in music videos as it immerses audiences and fans more into the video as it gives off that more first person aspect. An aspect that allows the audience to feel connected and up close and personal with the band members (especially in the behind the scenes shots because they consist entirely of hand held shots).

In terms of interlinking Andrew Goodwin's Codes and Conventions theory, it becomes apparent straight away that the video, and in particular the band performance shots, were going to consist of the typical codes and conventions of a music video. More specifically our video makes easy comparisons and similarities as those produced in the 1970/80s as thats the era in which our single choice was produced. All the shot variations such as: wide shots, extreme close ups, close ups and establishing shots allowed the audience to never hit a sense of boredom and thats why we incorporated them into our piece and were assuming thats why Stealers Wheel and other bands/musicians from that era and in the modern day include such a wide variety of shot types. As our music video is partly made up of the Reservoir Dogs parody aspect, its arguable that our video partly contradicts the Codes and Conventions theory as a humorous twist isnt regularly incorporated into music videos and acts as a focus point change within the piece from the band itself and their musical performance. Instead it reveals their acting abilities and personalities. An aspect that the fans might like as audiences tend to want to feel close and personal with the individuals and this sense of reality and non-musical link could extract the band from their typical day-to-day lives of music and instead puts them into a new scenario where the audience can see them in a different light.

The Video

Making reference to the hypodermic needle theory, our video seems to follow typical conventions in terms of having fun and messing around as that what the band is evidently doing throughout the piece and thats what they want their audience to do. But at the same time the danger element, especially when Frank is shaving me with a cut throat razor, isnt a usual convention of a music video and isnt something we originally intended to become influential on the audience as that part of the video is a replication of Reservoir Dogs and the whole parody aspect. But as many audience members wont have seen the film, they could interpret that scene in many ways, one being that we think its a good idea to go and dangerously mess around with lethal equipment. So our injection of ideas and thoughts into the audience, both intentional and unintentional contradict and coincide with the codes and conventions of music videos.

The theories produced by Rick Altman and Neale are also evident within our production as there is a wide range of different aspects from many genres throughout the piece. For example the lighting is easily comparable to that of a pop video through the bright colours of the band shots and the sun lit shots of the car shots. In addition, despite the fact its a reference and parody of the film Reservoir Dogs, the characters portrayed in that are much darker than the usual suspects you tend to find in a folk/rock song such as Stuck In The Middle With You. You tend to find individuals of that nature in genres such as metal or a more hardcore version of rock, despite the humorous twist. The behind the scenes shots of the band in the Mini Cooper are usually the kind of handheld shots you tend to find in a more indie music video as that genre seem to aim to immerse and involve their fans a lot more due to the individuality and easier access as theres a large sum of indie bands not yet globally recognised. These are all examples of hybridisation and how different elements of one genre can be injected into another one (Altman). As well as proof that genre isnt fixed and that it can change, develop and overlap (Neale).

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a2 media evaluation question 1

Education